No. 9 Virginia Tops North Carolina, 60-48

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Three players scored in double-figures to lead No. 9 Virginia (15-3, 11-1 ACC) to a 60-48 win over North Carolina (12-7, 7-5 ACC) on Saturday evening at John Paul Jones Arena.

Jay Huff (Durham, N.C.) finished with a double-double, leading UVA with 18 points and matching a career-high with 12 rebounds. Sam Hauser (Stevens Point, Wis.) added 17 points, hitting four 3-pointers, and Trey Murphy III (Durham, N.C.) had 12 points. Reece Beekman (Baton Rouge, La.) had career-highs in rebounds (8) and assists (7).

Virginia shot 40 percent from the field and 45 percent from 3-point range. UVA had 10 threes to two for UNC. The Cavaliers held the Tar Heels to 13 percent from beyond the arc and 34 percent overall. UNC led in rebounds (41-34).

HOW IT HAPPENED

After UNC scored the first basket of the game, Virginia went on a 13-0 run over 4:05 to lead 13-2. The Cavaliers continued to extend their lead with an 8-0 run that included threes from Huff and Tomas Woldetensae (Bologna, Italy). UVA held North Carolina to three field goals in the first 13 minutes of the game. The Tar Heels went on an 8-0 run to make it 22-15, but Hauser hit a three to end the drought for the Cavaliers.

Hauser scored the first five points of the second half for Virginia and Murphy II added a dunk to put UVA ahead 34-20. North Carolina closed the game to nine, 51-42, with 5:07 to play. Kihei Clark (Woodland Hills, Calif.) hit a pair of free throws then Murphy III made a three to put UVA up 14. Huff scored four-straight points to give the Cavaliers a 60-44 lead with 1:16 remaining.

THE GAME BALL GOES TO

Jay Huff’s double-double paced UVA in points (18), rebounds (12) and blocks (4). He was 3-for-5 from three and 6-of-10 from the floor. All four of Huff’s blocks came in the second half.

FROM TONY BENNETT

On this being his sort of game:

“Well yeah, we thought we did a good job with transition defense.  We took solid care of the basketball with only six turnovers. You can see how big and physical Carolina is and they got a few offensive rebounds, but we tried to be attentive to really trying to block out and do the things that we thought were so important in this. Trap when we could and then made enough. Plays. I thought a number of guys were solid. I thought Jay [Huff] was really good tonight on the glass and with his length. Look at Reese’s stat line. One point, but eight rebounds and seven assists. In games like this, you need your guards to really come back and rebound and I thought he did a good job with that. We stretched them with our threes, because they’re big and we had to move them and do what we needed to do.”

NOTES

• UVA held its fourth opponent to fewer than 50 points (4-0)
• The Cavaliers limited the Tar Heels to two points (1 of 12 shooting) for the first 7:47 of the game
• UVA went on a 21-2 run in the first half
• UVA forced one shot clock violation
• UVA made 10 or more 3-pointers for the eighth time
• UVA’s seven-game winning streak in the series is its longest in the series since winning the first eight games between the teams from 1911-16
• Huff recorded his seventh career double-double

UP NEXT

Virginia has a quick turnover as it travels to No. 17 Florida State on Monday, Feb. 15 for a 7 p.m. tip at the Donald L. Tucker Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.